Sound Shore

There have been many, many studies about consolidating local government services, and the recession is only increasing the drive to trim layers of government. But the issue is such a political minefield that even a grant application can trigger a minor blast, as I wrote Sunday.

Port Chester, Rye Brook and the Town of Rye want state funding for a study on the financial implications of eliminating the town. Apparently the village of Mamaroneck was left out of the loop, even though its Rye Neck neighborhood is part of Rye Town. Mayor Norm Rosenblum made his displeasure known in an email, saying any such study would be premature.

It’s not clear to me when or if the timing would ever be considered right, by all the players. Rye Neck’s options were already studied in 2007 by Pace University’s Michaelian Institute. The institute has number-crunched a variety of scenarios locally, most recently in the realm of fire services.

There are some interesting comments on Sunday’s article, among them: “We have layers of tax waste with teeny tiny jurisdictions and bosses and chiefs and administrators and all the supporting nepotism employees in the teeny tiny govt entities.”

Another comment asks why the state has devoted no less than $45 million to these studies since 2005. I wondered about that myself. The New York Department of State reports on the program here, saying the “anticipated” savings generated to date total $418 million. The department has studied some actual cost savings from the program, but only for 19 implementation projects out of 270 awards. The 19 projects used $3.8 million in grants and generated $4.8 million in annual savings in areas such as employee benefits, public safety and utilities, according to the report.

It’s far more common to study cost-sharing than the elimination of municipal governments. The Village of Pike was the subject of a study, and went out of existence at the end of 2009. Another upstate village, Andes, expired in 2003. Both dissolved into towns of the same name.

Here is a list of villages that dissolved over the century, identified by county, followed by the villages that incorporated since 1940.

Does anyone out there remember ol’ North Pelham??

Village Dissolutions in New York State

Roxbury Delaware 04/18/1900
Prattsville Greene 03/26/1900
Rifton Ulster 08/18/1919
Union* Broome 1921
LaFargeville Jefferson 04/18/1922
Brookfield*** Madison 12/31/1923
Oramel Allegany 12/23/1925
Eastwood** Onondaga 08/06/1926
Newfield Tompkins 12/02/1926
Pleasant Valley Dutchess 05/22/1926
Marlborough Ulster 04/20/1928
Northville Suffolk 05/16/1930
Old Forge Herkimer 10/21/1933
Forestport Oneida 06/18/1938
North Bangor Franklin 03/24/1939
The Landing Suffolk 05/25/1939
Downsville Delaware 09/21/1950
Amchir Orange 04/30/1968
Prattsburg Steuben 09/22/1972
Pelham Westchester 06/01/1975
N. Pelham Westchester 06/01/1975
Fort Covington Franklin 04/05/1976
Friendship Allegany 04/04/1977
Belleville Jefferson 04/20/1979
Rosendale Ulster 05/23/1979
Savannah Wayne 04/25/1979
Elizabethtown Essex 04/23/1981
Bloomingdale Essex 02/26/1985
Pine Hill Ulster 09/24/1985
Woodhull Steuben 01/13/1986
East Bloomfield Ontario 03/27/1990
Holcomb Ontario 03/27/1990
Pine Valley Suffolk 04/04/1990
Ticonderoga Essex 05/01/1992
Westport Essex 05/29/1992
Henderson Jefferson 05/23/1992
Schenevus Otsego 03/29/1993
Fillmore Allegany 01/13/1994
Mooers Clinton 03/31/1994
Andes Delaware 12/31/2003

Village Incorporations Since 1940

Florida Orange 08/05/1946
Prattsburg Steuben 12/07/1948
Tuxedo Park Orange 08/13/1952
Sodus Point Wayne 12/30/1957
New Square Rockland 11/06/1961
Atlantic Beach Nassau 06/21/1962
Port Jefferson Suffolk 04/09/1963
Amchir Orange 09/09/1964
Pomona Rockland 02/03/1967
Lake Grove Suffolk 09/09/1968
Round Lake Saratoga 08/07/1969
Sylvan Beach Oneida 03/17/1971
Lansing Tompkins 12/19/1974
Harrison Westchester 09/09/1975
Pelham* Westchester 06/01/1975
Kiryas Joel Orange 03/02/1977
Rye Brook Westchester 07/07/1982
Wesley Hills Rockland 12/07/1982
New Hempstead Rockland 03/21/1983
Islandia Suffolk 04/17/1985
Cape Vincent* Jefferson 04/15/1986
Montebello Rockland 05/07/1986
Chestnut Ridge Rockland 05/16/1986
West Carthage Jefferson 07/22/1987
Pine Valley Suffolk 03/15/1988
Kaser Rockland 01/25/1990
Bloomfield* Ontario 03/27/1990
Airmont Rockland 03/28/1991
W. Hampton Dunes Suffolk 11/19/1993
East Nassau Rensselaer 01/14/1998
Sagaponack Suffolk 09/27/2005
S. Blooming Grove Orange 07/14/2006
Woodbury Orange 08/28/2006

• Cape Vincent was created in 1853 but the proper incorporation paperwork was not filed until 1986.
• Pelham and North Pelham were consolidated into Pelham.

• Bloomfield was created by the consolidation of East Bloomfield and Holcomb.

  Source: New York Department of State

   
   
   
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